February 1, 2016 Booklist 7 www.booklistonline.com
gist Hardt has a lot of fun with her topic and
delights in sharing every odd, icky, or downright bizarre example of marine reproductive
acts (think lobster foreplay). She also peppers
the text with pop-culture references, easily
weaving them within scientific references and
interviews. So the influence of parasites on sex
change leads to a discussion of domoic acid in
microscopic algae and the story of how sea-birds (sooty shearwaters) were poisoned by it
in 1961, causing them to bombard the town
of Capitola, inspiring Alfred Hitchcock’s The
Birds. There’s also mention of Finding Nemo,
My Fair Lady, and The Vagina Monologues. For
all the lightheartedness, which armchair naturalists will love, the science is important and
effective. Hardt shows how delicate the mating
dance is for so many species and why care must
be taken with their environment. For all the
laughs, she makes it clear that if marine species can’t reproduce, we are all going to suffer.

—Colleen Mondor

Technology

The Green and the Black: The CompleteStory of the Shale Revolution, the Fightover Fracking, and the Future of Energy.

By Gary Sernovitz.

Feb. 2016. 288p. St. Martin’s, $27.99 (9781250080660).

622.

Sernovitz, managing director at an oil-and-gas private equity firm, shares his inside
perspective on the controversial shale oil industry. During the past decade, thanks to
many small but important technological
advances, the extraction of fossil fuels from
low-permeability rocks (fracking) ushered the
U.S. into a fossil fuel renaissance, lowering
prices, stimulating our economy, and changing
our international political landscape. The new
abundance of oil and gas has lead to the decline
of coal, too, helping us cut carbon emissions
by impressive amounts. Sernovitz writes passionately, even lovingly of the industry—the
remarkable human ingenuity constantly at play,
the American-dream tenacity of its leaders—
a surprising point of view for those mired in
doomsday rhetoric. But a tendency to rant and
clunky humor slow the narrative, and readers
who question the “capitalism as a moral good”
imperative may feel that Sernovitz too quickly
resolves some of the more difficult dilemmas.
Ultimately, The Green and the Black is more
black than green, but it offers a necessary perspective all the same. —Sarah Grant

Health & Medicine

The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic ThatRevolutionized Medicine and AmericanPolitics.

By Stephen Coss.

Mar. 2016. 416p. Simon & Schuster, $28

(9781476783086). 614.5.

Nothing occurs in a vacuum, and Coss’ in-telligent and sweeping account of a crucialyear in medical history proves that point.His book also demonstrates that the morethings change, the more they stay the same.Perhaps smallpox could have been eradi-cated decades before the crisis of 1721, hadpersistent opposition to scientific study notthwarted Dr. Zabdiel Boylston in his effortsto immunize people against the disease. Butthat is just one part of the colonial Massa-chusetts picture. Another fever, a figurativeone, was raging over visions of governanceand independence, which were also opposedby skeptics and naysayers. The upshot (nospoilers) is that, doubters notwithstanding,progress did win out, and those, among themJohn Adams and Benjamin Franklin, whobelieved in a future free from the tyranny ofboth a literal king and what was often calledthe king of diseases had reached a turningpoint. The people portrayed in this publichealth story, their struggles and interactions,feel at once intimate and urgent, thanks toCoss’ lucid telling of this fascinating story.—Donna Chavez

Snowball in a Blizzard: A Physician’sNotes on Uncertainty in Medicine.

The concept of uncertainty (and how it
impacts the care of patients) is a trendy topic in modern medicine. Medical certainty,
according to physician Hatch, is far from commonplace: “A diagnosis is, much more often
than not, a conjecture, and a prognosis is typically less certain than that.” Despite a myriad of
medical tests and clinical trials, problems with
ambiguities, errors in interpretation of data,
and bias besiege the attainment of medical
certitude. Hatch writes about overdiagnosis,
false-positive tests, doubt regarding diagnosis and treatment, consequences of medical
testing, and media hype. Some notable studies and controversial guidelines are reviewed:
screening mammography, routine PSA blood
measurements, treatment goals for high
blood pressure, and hormone-replacement
therapy for postmenopausal women. Lyme
disease, vaccination, and the continuous
creep of prescription medications into the
lives of basically healthy people are also addressed. Hatch stresses that honesty and
humility are especially good qualities in a
physician. And while reassurance is always
welcomed by patients, it’s okay for even the
best doctors to say, “I don’t know.” Or “I’m
not sure.” — Tony Miksanek

Vessels: A Love Story.

By Daniel Raeburn.

Mar. 2016. 224p. Norton, $23.95 (9780393285383).

618.3.

The subtitle of Raeburn’s (Chris Ware,
2004) second book is “a love story,” but
much of his memoir is about loss. An expansion of a piece previously published in the

New Yorker, it begins with Raeburn brieflydescribing his quick enthrallment and mar-riage to his wife, Becka. The rest is devotedto Becka’s succession of pregnancies thatended, often, in miscarriage. Their first child,whom they named Irene, was delivered as astillbirth. As the memoir moves forward intime, Raeburn shares recurrent thoughtsabout Irene and the life she never had, evenafter the birth of two healthy daughters, andhis reflections on his lost daughter are a poi-gnant reminder of the pain and heartbreakthat resonate after such a tragedy. Raeburn’saccount is, at times, graphic, yet his deeplypersonal descriptions of familial devastationand triumph form an affecting work. Morethan offering a simple tale about grief andthe struggles of parenthood, Raeburn speaksto the emotional influence of those we tryto bring into the world and the lives we areresponsible for. —Allegra Wozniak

Cookery

100 Million Years of Food: What Our
Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today.
By Stephen Le.

When it comes to food, early humans knew
best, according to Le, a biological anthropologist. Modern diets, high in processed “white as
snow” rice and other carbohydrates, increase
the risk of “diseases of western civilization,”
such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Le travels
to and dines in Kenya, Australia, and Vietnam,
his parents’ birthplace, where he eats a high-protein centipede. He carefully distinguishes
between short-term and long-term health benefits of different diets. High-dairy, high-meat
diets improve muscle mass and may help elderly people be less frail, but they’re also more
likely to lead to shorter lives. By contrast, Dean
Ornish’s low-meat, low-fat diet seems better for
longevity but is tricky to sustain. Ideally, people
should keep moving, consume less meat and
dairy at young ages, and eat like their own
ancestors. For example, Inuit children are ge-

• Adult titles recommended for teens
are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA
interest; YA/C, for books with particular curriculum value; YA/S, for books
that will appeal most to teens with a
special interest in a specific subject;
and YA/M, for books best suited to
mature teens.